Battle of Sector 001
The Battle of Sector 001 was a confrontation between the United Federation of Planets and the Borg Collective in 2373. Although the battle resulted in significant loss of life for the Starfleet forces, it is still considered a victory for the Federation. Unlike the infamous Battle of Wolf 359 some 6 years previously, Starfleet proved to be more prepared to fight the Borg, and the fleet, though outgunned, ultimately managed to successfully destroy the Cube. (Star Trek: First Contact) Prelude The second major Borg incursion into Federation space began shortly before stardate 50893, when the colony on Ivor Prime was destroyed. Nearby Deep Space 5 picked up the attack, and long-range sensors detected a single Borg vessel. Admiral Hayes was immediately informed. Hayes next contacted Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the newly-commissioned [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)|USS Enterprise-E]]. Picard was already aware of the Borg presence in Federation space, and felt he should be part of the defense force. However, Hayes believed that Picard's previous experience with the Borg, in particular his assimilation into the Collective as Locutus, would add an "unstable element into a critical situation". Despite Picard's numerous protests to Starfleet Command, the Enterprise was ordered to the Romulan Neutral Zone, whilst a Federation fleet mobilized in the Typhon sector, hoping to ambush the Borg cube before it reached Earth. The Battle The Cube engaged the fleet soon after. The contact was broadcast on Starfleet frequency 1486, and was monitored by the Enterprise. Approaching at speeds exceeding warp nine, the Cube broadcast its familiar litany: :"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile." The fleet opened fire. The defense perimeter was quickly shattered, with numerous ships being lost, as the Cube continued on, unrelenting. The reserves, including [[USS Bozeman|USS Bozeman]] and [[USS Defiant (NX-74205)|USS Defiant]], were called in, and the fleet assaulted the cube all the way to Sol system. By the time the fleet arrived in the system, a vast proportion of ships had already been lost, including Hayes' flagship. However, the fleet had succeeded in sustaining heavy damage to the cube's outer hull, and their power grid was fluctuating. The Defiant was heavily damaged, and Lt. Cmdr Worf, commanding the ship, was preparing to ram the Cube, when the Enterprise-E arrived, distracting the Borg long enough to beam the Defiant crew off their stricken ship as life support failed. Picard, using his link to the Collective, took command of the fleet, and ordered all weapons to be targeted on a specific area on the Cube, already damaged by weapons fire. The resulting assault destroyed the Cube, the explosion destroying several nearby starships. Shortly before its destruction, however, the Cube was able to launch a spherical vessel not previously encountered from its interior. As the fleet evaded the resultant explosion, this sphere headed for Earth, Enterprise in hot pursuit. The Sphere began generating chronometric particles, and a temporal vortex was formed. The sphere disappeared inside the vortex, on the edges of Earth's atmosphere. History was instantly changed. The sphere had travelled back to 2063, in an attempt to sabotage First Contact. As the Enterprise closed in, the temporal wake caused by the vortex thinned, to reveal an assimilated Earth, with a drone population of 9 billion. Enterprise followed the sphere in, and was able to prevent the assimilation of the planet, and ensure the correct version of history took place, before safely returning to the 24th century. Aftermath Starfleet's losses in the battle were comparable to the earlier fleet action at Wolf 359. The destruction of so many ships left the remaining fleet stretched thin across the quadrant, as would later be rued by Captain Benjamin Sisko, shortly before Dominion forces passed through the Bajoran wormhole to annex Cardassia. (DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow"), and would prove of even greater significance following the later outbreak of hostilities. :''Sisko's remark places an awkward continuity error on the dating of this event. "By Inferno's Light", the following episode, takes place on stardate 50564.2, supposedly several months before the events depicted in ''Star Trek: First Contact. See also * List of starships at the Battle of Sector 001